Bhutto of Pakistan killed today - Riots ensue. Civil War breaking out

[American Patriot]

She was assassinated by a gunman that shot her several times, and then exploded a bomb he was wearing, killing another 20 or so persons.

Watch for fireworks in the middle east for the next three days.

If Pakistan falls apart, watch for Nukes to get into the hands of the Taliban or worse.

[Ryan Ruck]

I'm sure that India is on very high alert...

[American Patriot]

The US isn't exactly on "Sleep" status right now.

[American Patriot]

Terror threat in Pak, security agencies on high alert (warning issued hours before Bhutto's death)
The Times of India ^

Terror threat in Pak, security agencies on high alert 27 Dec 2007, 1510 hrs IST,PTI

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates ISLAMABAD: Security agencies in the Pakistani capital have been put on high alert following an intelligence report that terrorists may strike in the city and target top politicians and religious leaders.

A senior officer said police and the city administration had been warned by the Interior Ministry that suicide attacks could take place in Islamabad.

According to the Interior Ministry's letter, terrorists could target high-profile politicians and religious leaders.

Security had been tightened in and around the capital and the high alert would stay in force till the January 8 general election, the officer told Dawn newspaper.

Three wings of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers, personnel from the "Elite Force" of Punjab Constabulary and city police have been deployed at sensitive places in Islamabad to avert any attack.

A senior police officer said security has been provided to top politicians, including Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairperson and former premier Banazir Bhutto, and religious leaders who faced threats. They have been provided with police motorcades for moving around the city and police forces have been deployed at their homes.

The administration and police have reviewed security arrangements in the city and started restructuring police pickets. Law enforcement personnel have also started checking hotels, inns and bus stands.

"We have been keeping a strict vigil on suspicious people staying in hotels and inns and moving around bust stops," an officer said.

Intelligence agencies have been asked to keep an eye on suspicious people and send reports to the city administration.

The federal government has also directed all provinces and the Islamabad capital territory to step up security around 10 Shia individuals and political leaders following intelligence reports that Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud had placed them on his hit list.

Sources said the hit list prepared by Mehsud, who was recently named chief of newly formed Tehrik Taliban-e-Pakistan, contained the names of 10 individuals.

The Tehrik Taliban-e-Pakistan, which comprises Pakistani Taliban groups from different parts of the country's restive northwestern tribal areas, recently claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an army convoy in Swat that killed nine persons.

The sources also said militants from the Dara Adam Khel area had been given the task of targeting persons on the hit list.

Among the persons believed to be on the hit list are retired judge and PPP leader Ibn-i-Ali; his son, Additional Sessions Judge Ehtisham Ali; former provincial assembly member Qalb-i-Hassan; and Fazal Abbas, the Pir of Kalaya. The list also includes the caretakers of three Shia 'imambargahs' in Kohat.

[American Patriot]

This just in...

Pak's military is on "Red Alert".

Rioting started a bit ago, buildings, cars are burning and people are demolishing things right now.

NUKES ladies and gentlemen are all that stand in the way of preventing nuclear war now.

Watch and wait.

[Beetle]

It is my understandig that 75% of the supplies that get to our Troops in Afghanistan comes through Pakistan. Not only the nukes but this is also a problem for us.

[Jag]

Al Qaeda leads suspect list in Bhutto killing

Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:51pm EST

By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda is the chief suspect in the murder of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, standing to gain by preserving its remote stronghold, undermining President Pervez Musharraf and destabilizing the country, U.S. government and private analysts said.

The militant group, which has rebuilt its command structure on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was blamed for a previous attempt on Bhutto and it has denounced her as an instrument of U.S. policy in Pakistan.

Bush administration officials said it was too early to identify a clear suspect in Thursday's assassination.

But one U.S. official said: "There are a number of extremist groups within Pakistan that could have carried out the attack ... Al Qaeda has got to be one of the groups at the top of this list."

Al Qaeda's Taliban ally, which has publicly threatened Bhutto, was another potential suspect, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

One analyst said al Qaeda supporters in Pakistan's security services may have also played a role, but it was unlikely Musharraf himself was involved.

Killing Bhutto undermines Musharraf, viewed by the United States as an essential ally against terrorism, by eliminating the prospect of a power-sharing agreement between the two that could shore up his deteriorating political standing and stabilize the country, the analysts said.

That in turn reduces chances that Musharraf can revive efforts to drive al Qaeda and the Taliban out of the remote Waziristan tribal areas. It also fans popular suspicions against Musharraf and sows general confusion.

"Their (al Qaeda's) motivation for doing this is entirely clear," said David Gartenstein-Ross of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "They have the most to gain."

Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi, a two weeks before national elections meant to return Pakistan to a civilian-led democracy.

Her death follows a failed assassination attempt in October as she returned from exile to Pakistan. She blamed that attempt on four groups including al Qaeda and the Taliban.

AL QAEDA DENOUNCES

Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, this month denounced Bhutto's return as a U.S.-orchestrated maneuver.

"Everything that is going on in Pakistan, from the arrangement for the return of Benazir to the declaration of the state of emergency ... to repressive measures, is a desperate American attempt to remedy the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Zawahri said in an interview with al Qaeda's media arm.

Shortly before Bhutto's return in October, Taliban commander Haji Omar had pledged to attack her.

Pakistan's investigation of the killing will be a major test of Musharraf's credibility, said P.J. Crowley, a former National Security Council official.
In particular, he said, the probe must make a thorough effort to identify any elements in the government who may be complicit in the attack.

The United States offered FBI assistance in investigating Bhutto's assassination, but Pakistan has not yet made a request, FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak said.

Bhutto, in an October letter to an acquaintance read on CNN on Wednesday, said she would hold Musharraf responsible if she were killed, for a failure to authorize adequate security.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: "We don't know who is responsible for this attack. ... But it is clear that whoever is responsible is someone who opposes peaceful, democratic development and change in Pakistan."

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...BrandChannel=0

Jag

[American Patriot]

I wouldn't be surprised at this point, and I wouldn't be surprised to see an attempt on Mushy by Bhutto's supporters now either.

[American Patriot]

U.S. suspects Taliban leader behind Bhutto plot
CNN ^ | December 28, 2007

U.S. officials suspect a Taliban leader may be behind the plot to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a senior official said Friday.

The official identified Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud as a leading suspect, saying there's "good information that leads us to believe he is the guy responsible."

Earlier Friday, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said it had "intelligence intercepts" indicating Mehsud was behind the opposition leader's death the day before in Rawalpindi.

"As you all know, Benazir Bhutto had been on the hit list of terrorists ever since she had come to Pakistan," said the Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema. "She was on the hit list of al Qaeda."

Cheema said the Pakistani government intercepted a phone call Friday in which Mehsud "congratulated his people for carrying out this cowardly act."

Cheema said his government had "irrefutable evidence" that al Qaeda was "systematically targeting our state institutions in order to destabilize the country."

In the phone intercept that Pakistani officials released Friday, Mehsud is apparently speaking in the Pashto language to another militant, whom he called Maulavi Sahib, or religious leader. The following is from the transcript:

Mehsud: Congratulations to you. Were they ours?

Maulavi Sahib: Yes, it was us.

Mehsud: Who was there?

Maulavi Sahib: Saeed was there, second there was Bilal from Badar and Ikramullah.

Mehsud: All three of them did it?

Maulavi Sahib: Ikramullah and Bilal did it.

Mehsud: Then congratulations.

Maulavi Sahib: Where are you? I want to meet.

Mehsud: I am in Makeen [town in the southern part Waziristan]. Come over. I am at Anwar Shah's house.

Later in the conversation, Mehsud said, "Fantastic job. Very brave boys, the ones who killed her."

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...

[Jag]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The Pakistani government said Friday that Benazir Bhutto Bhutto was not killed by gunshots or shrapnel as originally claimed but by a skull fracture suffered when her head slammed against her car during a suicide attack.

Can't believe much of what that government says but probably all three done her in. Pop, boom, slam!

Jag

[Jag]

Many Had the Desire, Means to Kill Bhutto


By Joby Warrick and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 28, 2007; Page A15


Even before the official search got underway in Pakistan, U.S. intelligence agencies yesterday were drawing up their own list of possible suspects in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto -- a list that includes al-Qaeda as well as elements of Pakistan's own intelligence service.

In the initial hours after the slaying, intelligence officials had no firm indication of who was behind the attack and no independent means of verifying any early claims of responsibility. But it was quickly clear that numerous groups possessed both the means of carrying out the assassination and a deep antagonism toward Bhutto and the moderating influences she embodied, according to several current and former officials closely tracking the situation.

At the top of the list, the officials said, is the al-Qaeda terrorist network and its legion of allies, including loosely affiliated groups that espouse similar views and, in some cases, share training facilities and other resources. But several officials said it is equally plausible that the assassination was carried out with the support -- or at least the tacit approval -- of Pakistani government employees. Most of the officials expressed doubt, however, that President Pervez Musharraf himself would have approved the killing.

"There are many Pakistani intelligence types who don't like Benazir Bhutto," said one U.S. official familiar with the country's internal politics. "She had more than her share of detractors throughout the government." At the same time, the official said, the rioting and unrest triggered by the slaying threaten the country's stability in a way that directly undermines the government of Musharraf, who had been her chief political rival.

Some former U.S. intelligence and defense experts said they believe that the assassination marks the beginning of a new and significant Islamic extremist offensive against the government of Pakistan.

"I think they see an opportunity to make Pakistan a new battleground," retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni said of al-Qaeda and its allies. Zinni -- who dealt often with Musharraf when he was chief of Central Command, the U.S. military headquarters for the Middle East -- said there is "no doubt in my mind" that the culprits are linked to al-Qaeda, which has long-established havens along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. He said the group was being pressured by recent agreements between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and "felt they had to do something."

Al-Qaeda possessed the clearest motive for the attack: the destabilization of Pakistan's government, which Osama bin Laden personally called for in a statement addressed to Pakistan's citizens this past fall. "They had means, plenty of martyr wannabes. And they probably had inside information on her route and security," said Bruce Reidel, a former CIA official and onetime member of the National Security Council.

U.S. officials also mentioned as a possible suspect the Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has been linked to previous attempts to assassinate Pakistani political figures.

Although Zinni is skeptical of the notion that Pakistani intelligence backed the assassination, other experts saw the hand of Pakistan's military intelligence arm, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which supported the Taliban inside Afghanistan until the U.S. invasion in 2001, and is believed to maintain links to Islamic extremist groups.

Andrew Exum, who fought in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army officer and now studies Islamic militant groups at King's College London, said he has "a hard time believing no one in ISI knew about this attack."

In the end, however, the facts may not matter as much as perception, said Barnett R. Rubin, a New York University expert on South Asian affairs. "I know what many people in Pakistan and Afghanistan believe: They think that the Pakistani military killed her," he said. "I am not endorsing this belief -- or denying it -- but it is a political reality."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

Jag

[Toad]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The Pakistani government said Friday that Benazir Bhutto Bhutto was not killed by gunshots or shrapnel as originally claimed but by a skull fracture suffered when her head slammed against her car during a suicide attack.

Can't believe much of what that government says but probably all three done her in. Pop, boom, slam!

Jag

And now I'm hearing on the news that no autopsy was done, no forensic documentation of exact cause(es) of death. Just "doctors say..."
Now on the tapes, at the time the shooter has the gun in the air, you can see "something" sharply lift her headscarf up right before she went down, before the blast.

Gun in the air. Headscarf pops upward. Bhutto instantly goes down. Then explosion.

What you see for yourself doesn't mesh with what the official government statement is. It'll be interesting to see just how this plays out.